Monday, July 15, 2019

At the
intersection of the consumer, food, food sales, food marketing, and branded
food company adoption are thee cross currents according to Steven Johnson,
Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA
based Foodservice Solutions®.

Those cross
currents are Fresh Prepared Food, Technology including delivery hardware & software,
and branded partnerships according to Johnson.One grocery retailer that wants to garner incremental customers that ‘gets
it’ according to Johnson this trial create a new electricity for H-E-B.

Recently H-E-B announced a strategic partnership with self-driving
delivery With Udelv. Grocery stores have
been slow to adopt new technology and H-E-B understands that at the turn of the
century 1900 there were more grocery stores than restaurants and today there
are 28 restaurants for every grocery store in the US. H-E-B wants is looking a
customer ahead and wants to grow.

H-E-B’s test of a new
grocery delivery service from a Udelv vehicle with self-driving technology launch the pilot Autodeliv program in San
Antonio later this year.

H-E-B, is going to be
inviting select customers near its store in Olmos Park, TX to sign up to
receive deliveries from an autonomous vehicle during the pilot test period. The
retailer will deploy one autonomous delivery vehicle (ADV)
from Burlingame, Calif.-based Udelv, whose ADV has climate-controlled
compartments that hold multiple orders of fresh, frozen and dry goods, and can
travel at city street and highway speeds.

The Udelv trial is
part of the 400-store regional retailer’s efforts to integrate more
technology-based services into its playbook, which includes its wholly owned
subsidiary Favor, an on-demand delivery service; H-E-B Curbside; H-E-B
Home Delivery, which is expected to be at more than 200 locations by year’s
end; and H-E-B Go, a mobile solution that allows people to scan and pay for
their items with their phones.

“At H-E-B, we
continue to evaluate and utilize innovative technologies in all parts of our
business,” Paul Tepfenhart, SVP of omnichannel and emerging technologies for
Central Market and H-E-B, said in a release. Consumers are dynamic not static
and retailer must be as well.What are
you doing to drive customer adoption and new electricity?

According to Johnson, “Brand relevance is
in part driven with innovation in new menu related products in combination with
new avenues of distribution all of which are the platform for the new
electricity.”

All food and beverage retailers to
survive the next generation of retail must embrace the artificial intelligence
revolution while simultaneously embracing fresh food and beverages that
are portable, fresh, with differentiation that is familiar not different.

Are
you looking for a new partnership to drive sales? Are you ready for some fresh
ideations? Do your food marketing tactics look more like yesterday that
tomorrow? Visit www.FoodserviceSolutions.us for more information
or contact: Steve@FoodserviceSolutions.us Remember success
does leave clues and we just may have the clue you need to propel your
continued success.